Press Release

03/11/2009

4th EPP Young Members Network meeting in Porto: building a European agenda that deals with our citizens' problems

At the 4th EPP Young Members Network meeting, which took place in Porto (Portugal) from 29-30 October 2009, the young politicians discussed new ways of working together after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. They also encouraged EU Governments and the European Parliament to find a comprehensive agreement based on the Commission's proposal for a new architecture for the supervision of EU financial markets.

The meeting took place under the leadership of the Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Paulo Rangel MEP, and the Coordinator of the Young Members Network, Andreas Schwab MEP.

The young parliamentarians from all 27 Member States stated in their conclusions that "the sustainability of public finances is a pre-condition and priority, not only for stability and growth, and the formulation of each Member State's macro-economic employment, social and environmental policies, but also for the future of the economy and the European social model, intrinsic to the development of the EU."

Mr Rangel said "We need to start mapping our consolidation strategies and we need to assess how the crisis has affected public sustainability conditions."

"Young members believe," Mr Andreas Schwab said, "that it is extremely important that EU governments do not withdraw the extraordinary budgetary measures until recovery is secured. But at the same time, we advocate a coordinated exit strategy to ensure a sustainable future for the public finances of the EU member states."

Mr Paulo Rangel declared last Friday: "a greater role for national parliaments and for the European Parliament is one of the reasons why we need the Treaty of Lisbon. Therefore, we congratulate the European Council on the important decisions taken last week in Brussels in order to be able to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon as soon as possible." He added that "The Lisbon Treaty was moved yet another step closer to its entry into force."

The EPP Group wants to be a pioneer in establishing genuine cooperation between all EU parliamentarians with one main goal: to build a European agenda that deals with our citizens' problems, such as unemployment and immigration. The EPP Young Members Network wishes to play a full part in achieving this objective.


For further information:
Paulo Rangel, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group, Tel: +32-2-284-52-63
Andreas Schwab, Coordinator of the Young Members Network, Tel: +32-2-284-59-38
Francesco Frapiccini, EPP Group Press Service, Tel: +32-473-941652

Notes to Editors:
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 265 Members.